Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Petty Officer J. E. Merrett, Royal Navy, who was killed on 6 August 1914, when H.M.S. Amphion struck a mine off the Thames estuary and sank with the loss of 132 men killed; she was the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the Great War

1914-15 Star (167481, J. E. Merritt [sic], P.O.1., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (167481 J. E. Merrett. P.O. R.N.) very fine (3) £240-£280

John Edward Merrett was born on 2 April 1877 at Devonport and joined the Royal Navy as Boy 2nd Class on 7 June 1892, serving in H.M.S. Impregnable. Advanced Ordinary Seaman, H.M.S. Centurion, 2 April 1895, he was promoted Able Seaman in the same ship on 1 May 1896, and Leading Seaman, H.M.S. Defiance, on 28 October 1898. Advance Petty Officer 1st Class, H.M.S. Defiance, 10 March 1905, he transferred to H.M.S. Amphion, 2 April 1913, and was serving in her on the outbreak of the Great War. He was consequently present at the first naval engagement of the War when Amphion sank the German mine-layer Königin Luise on the 5 August 1914: the very next day, however, Amphion became the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the War, when she struck one of her victim’s mines. The following is an account of Amphion’s all too brief wartime career:

Great Britain declared war on Germany at 23:00 hours on 4 August 1914. In the early hours of the following morning Amphion sailed from the port of Harwich together with four destroyers of the 3rd Flotilla. By daylight on 5 August they were well out in the North Sea sweeping towards the Heligoland Bight.

A few hours after leaving port one of the destroyers received a report from a fishing vessel who had seen an unknown vessel “throwing things over the side” about 20 miles north of Outer Gabbard. At 10:25 am Amphion sighted an unknown steamer and sent destroyers Lance and Landrail to investigate. The steamer was, in fact, the German Königin Luise, a former Hamburg-Holland passenger ferry which had been converted into an auxiliary mine-layer. On the night of 4th August she had left her home port of Emden with cargo of 180 mines and steamed south through the North Sea to lay mines off the Thames Estuary. She resembled the steamers of the Great Eastern Railway that plied between Harwich and the Hook of Holland, and had hurriedly been painted in their colours of black, buff and yellow to disguise herself.

As the two British destroyers approached her, Königin Luise made off at 20 knots altering her course, before disappearing into a rain squall where she laid further mines. The destroyers pursued and at 10:30 Lance opened fire, the first naval shots of the Great War (the forward gun, which fired the shot, is preserved in the Imperial War Museum). They were soon joined by Amphion, which had won the Fleet Gunnery Prize for 1914, and the German came under a very accurate fire. Königin Luise was only lightly armed and offered little resistance. When her efforts to escape into neutral waters, and to draw the British ships onto her minefield were unavailing, Commander Biermann gave the order to scuttle her. At 12:22, on fire amidships and with smoke and steam pouring from her, Königin Luise rolled over to port and sank.

56 of a crew of 130 were rescued by Amphion. Half of these prisoners were incarcerated in a compartment in the cruiser’s bow for the grim reason that “if we go up on a mine, they might as well go first.” During the action, gun crews from the disengaged side of Amphion crossed over to watch the firing and showed their appreciation of good salvoes by cheering and applauding. After the action Captain Fox mustered all hands and reprimanded the men for leaving their posts. He reminded them that they were at war and each man had to stick to his own duty. The ship’s company saw sense of this and rather enjoyed the lecture.

Returning to Harwich, Amphion then sighted another ship of the same appearance and colours as Königin Luise but this one was flying an enormous German flag. The destroyers opened fire. Captain Fox recognised her as a genuine Great Eastern Railway steamer and signalled to cease fire; at the same time, the vessel hauled down the German colours and raised the red ensign. She was the St. Petersburg, flying the German flag because she was carrying the German ambassador Prince Lichnowsky and his staff to neutral Holland. Her identity and mission established, she was allowed to proceed.

At 06:45 hours on 6 August Amphion struck one of the mines laid by the Königin Luise. It exploded just beside the forebridge and broke the ship’s back. The explosion practically destroyed the bridge; all the occupants, including Captain Fox, were badly burnt, and smoke and flame poured from the slits in the conning tower. All the focsle gun crews were killed, as were many men on the forward mess decks, where the hands were having breakfast. Of the 21 German prisoners in the forward compartment, all but one were killed. Despite his injuries Captain Fox took charge. The ship was well down by the bows and attempts to extinguish the raging fires failed. Abandon ship was ordered. As most of Amphion’s boats had been destroyed, the destroyers sent their boats to rescue the crew. There was no confusion or panic; the survivors fell in on deck and, within twenty minutes of the first explosion, all survivors were aboard the destroyers.
Unfortunately, although Amphion’s engines had been stopped, she still had way on, and at 07:03 hours, just as the last boatload of survivors had been taken off, she struck a second mine. Her magazine detonated in a huge cloud of pale yellow smoke and the fore-part of the ship was completely disintegrated, showering the attending destroyers with debris. One 4 inch shell fell on board the Lark, killing two of Amphion’s men and a German prisoner. Amphion then suddenly slid astern and sank at 07.05. One officer and 150 men were lost.’

Merrett was among those killed, the first British casualties of the Great War, and he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.